Technical Abstract:
Endocrine disrupting chemicals are an emerging problem in water pollution due to their toxic effects on humans and wildlife. Estrogenic compounds are a subset of endocrine disrupting chemicals that are particularly dangerous since they are very potent and can affect fish at concentrations as low as 1 ng/L. Adsorption techniques for removing toxic compounds such as these typically use activated carbon. Membrane technology can also be effective although significantly more expensive since most are synthetic and require maintenance to prevent clogging. Biochar is an alternate source of carbon that can be produced from virtually any organic feedstock, and there are many sources that are both renewable and affordable. In this study two biochars from different renewable sources were examined as potential adsorptive media for estrogenic compounds. Sorption isotherms were used to measure the binding activity of these biochars with estrogenic compounds, and these results were correlated with surface area and micropore measurements of each biochar.